


Pucker Up, Buttercup

by hoeziertozier



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, First Kiss, First Love, Fluff, M/M, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-02-20
Packaged: 2019-03-21 16:19:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13744704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoeziertozier/pseuds/hoeziertozier
Summary: Eddie isn’t too fond of Valentine’s Day. Richie decides to show him what he’s missing out on.Originally posted to my tumblr: hoeziertozier





	Pucker Up, Buttercup

Eddie scowled as walked into the school hallways, couples giving each other presents and making out around him. Though they were two of his favourite colours, the pink and red decor made him gag. The stench of love in the air made him roll his eyes. It was his least favourite day of the year.

 _Happy Valentine’s Day? More like Happy Have-fun-remembering-how-single-you-are Day,_ he thought bitterly, as he opened his locker.

“THERE’S MY EDDIE SPAGHETTI!” A voice bellowed across the corridor, and Eddie hid his face inside his locker from embarrassment. Richie skipped over to him and swung his arm around his shoulder, and smacked a wet kiss on his cheek. Eddie grimaced as other students have them weird looks and wiped his cheek.

“Do you have to slobber so much?”

Richie grinned. “Can’t help it Eds. you make my mouth water.”

“Don’t call me that,” Eddie grumbled, cheeks flaring.

Richie frowned. “Why’re you so grumpy? It’s Valentine’s Day! It’s the season of looove.”

Eddie rolled his eyes. “That’s exactly why I’m grumpy. Valentine’s Day is just a ploy for people to buy more chocolate.”

“Ah, Eds, that’s cause you’re single and don’t know what it feels like!”

Eddie hated to admit it, but Richie was right. The only reason he was so bitter about Valentine’s Day was because he had no one to celebrate it with. He wasn’t unattractive per say, he could get a boyfriend if he wanted. The reason he didn’t was because he was sort of in love with his Trashmouth of a best friend.

“I’ll tell you what,” Richie said, as they walked towards their homerooms, “I’ll show you exactly why people love Valentine’s Day.”

Eddie’s heart skipped a beat. “Are you asking me to be your Valentine?”

Richie shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure, if that’s what you wanna call it. Meet me at your locker after school today. I’ll show you exactly what you’re missing out on.”

“Ooooh, should I be worried?”

Richie cracked a grin. “Definitely.” He ruffled Eddie’s hair and then headed in the direction of his History classroom, which was a few doors down from Eddie’s English class. Eddie bit back a smile as he watched him leave.

Richie spun around before entering his class and yelled, “DON’T FORGET THE CONDOMS, BABE!”

* * *

The entire day, Eddie was a ball of nervous energy. He was looking forward to what Richie had planned for him, but he was also a little wary. Richie didn’t always have the smartest plans. And then there was that tiny voice at the back of his head reminding that Richie wasn’t actually being serious about any of this, it was just a joke to him. Eddie tried to ignore that though. No matter what Richie’s intentions were, he was going to enjoy himself.

When Richie wasn’t at lunch, Eddie got a little suspicious. He shrugged it off by assuming he had landed himself in lunch detention, or was smoking under the bleachers. He set his tray down and sighed. At least if Richie were around, he wouldn’t be fifth-wheeling. Bev and Ben were too busy making heart-eyes at each other to notice him, and Stan, Bill, and Mike were huddled together, quietly planning their date. Just another reminder of how painfully single he was.

“Hey, Eddie!” Stan seemed to have just noticed him. “When did you get here?”

“About fifteen minutes ago.”

“Oh.” The others looked at him apologetically.

He rolled his eyes. “It’s fine, guys. Today’s your day.”

“Where’s Richie?” Mike asked, changing the topic.

“Oh, I saw him in the craft room with Veronica,” said Ben.

“So she’s the Valentine,” said Bev, realisation dawning on her.

Eddie choked on his noodles. “What?”

She shrugged. “He told me about a special Valentine date he had to plan. Said it was super important.”

Richie’d said he was going to show him what he was missing out on, so the date must’ve had to be him, right? Veronica was probably just helping him out, right?  _Right?_

Bill looked at Eddie sympathetically. He was the only one who knew about Eddie’s crush. Eddie met his eyes and nodded.  _He was fine._

Richie wasn’t in gym class either, their last period for the day. That sucked even more, because none of the other losers shared that class with him. At least Richie would keep him entertained.

Soon, the final bell rang, and Eddie ran to his locker. Sure enough, Richie was waiting for him with a dopey grin on his face. He had a bouquet of flowers in his hand.

“Aw, damn, I was hoping you’d keep your shorts on,” Richie pouted.

“Rich, my gym shorts are sweaty and gross.”

“But they make your legs look so good!”

Eddie blushed. “It’s not my fault you’re a hormonal teenager.”

“Your mom wasn’t complaining last night.”

“Beep fucking beep, Tozier.”

He handed the flowers to him. “Here you go. Happy Valentine’s Day, Spaghetti.”

“Where’d you get these?”

“Stole them from the vase in the nurse’s room.”

“Of course you did.”

Eddie entered his locker combination and swung it open, only to see a white envelope on his books. He took it out, and saw the red hearts stuck to it. On the front, written in Richie’s chicken scrawl, were the words Eddie, my love. Eddie heart skipped a beat, but he had to remind himself it was all a joke.

“Why’d you put it in my locker if you were going to see me anyway?”

Richie shrugged. “I put it in during lunch. Thought you’d check your locker earlier.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and opened it. Inside was a red heart-shaped card. Written on the card in Richie’s neatest handwriting (which was still pretty terrible) was a poem.

_Roses are red,_

_Pizza is good,_

_Are you a beaver?_

_Cause I want you to gnaw on my wood._

Eddie rolled his eyes. “Gee, thanks Richie, really romantic.”

Richie smirked. “Wait till you see what else I have planned for you.”

Eddie’s ears turned pink. “There’s more?”

“Of course! I promise this is going to be the best Valentine’s Day ever!”

He chuckled. “Alright, loverboy, where to next?”

Richie’s cheeks flushed at the nickname, but Eddie figured it was because he was embarrassed.

“Uh, to the music room!”

He grabbed Eddie’s wrist and dragged him to the music room. Just before he opened the door, Richie put his palms over his eyes.

“Really?”

“Shhh.”

Richie opened the door and they shuffled into the room. Once the door was shut behind them, he removed his hands.

“Okay, you can look now.”

Eddie opened his eyes and immediately took a deep breath. The floor was littered with pieces of pink paper, cut into the shape of rose petals. The lights were turned off and a few vanilla-scented candles were lit. In the middle of the room was a stool. A huge banner hung at the back, which said, “Happy Valentine’s Day, Eds.”

Eddie spun around and looked at Richie. “You did this for me?”

He refused to meet his gaze. “I had some help.”

“Wow. Richie, you didn’t have to.”

Richie shook his head. “You hate Valentine’s Day. I had to give you a reason not to.”

He pulled Eddie to the stool and made him sit down. He sat down on his knees and pulled out a mixtape from his pocket. “Here. Your Valentine’s Day present.”

Eddie looked at the label.  _Things I wish I could say out loud._

Eddie didn’t recognize most of the tracks, but he had a pretty good guess as to what they were about.

“Do you— do you mind if we listen to it now? Or would rather listen to it at home?”

Eddie shrugged. “We can listen to it now if you want.” He actually wanted to know if the songs were what he thought they were, or if he was just giving himself false hope.

Richie put the tape into his boombox. Eddie smiled when he heard the opening notes of the first song.

Richie stuck his hand out, cheeks flushed. “May I have this dance, my lord?”

Eddie rolled his eyes fondly but took his hand. He wrapped his arms around Richie’s neck, as the latter snaked his arms around his waist.

 _Look into my eyes_  
You will see  
What you mean to me  


Richie pulled him closer and their faces were inches apart. Eddie couldn’t believe it. He was swaying in the music room, surrounded by pink paper petals, to fucking Bryan Adams, with the boy he was deeply in love with. It didn’t seem realistic.

 _You know it’s true_  
Everything I do  
I do it for you

“So, do you like it, Eds?”

Eddie looked up at his partner. His face was pink, and his eyes were uncertain behind his coke-bottle frames.

He smiled softly. “I love it, ‘Chee.”

Richie’s face broke out into a toothy grin. “So is the best Valentine’s Day ever?”

Eddie pretended to think. “Hmm, best first Valentine’s Day, that’s for sure.”

“Hey, that’s not fair! You get to have only first Valentine’s Day, ever!”

Eddie laughed. “I’m kidding. It’s better than anything I could ever imagine. It's… perfect. Really.”

Richie let out a sigh of relief. “That’s good. I thought all my planning would’ve gone down the drain.”

Eddie’s heart jumped. “For how long have you been planning this?”

Richie adjusted his glasses and looked down. “A couple of weeks. Stan thought Valentine’s Day would be the best time to tell you, even though it’s really cliché.”

“Tell me what?” The tape continued playing in the background, but they stopped dancing.

He looked up at him. “I think you’ve figured it out.”

Eddie gulped. “I still need to hear you say it.”

“Do I have to?”

“Please.”

Richie sighed and took his hands in his. “Eddie Spaghetti, I, Trashmouth Tozier, am hopelessly in love with you. Are you happy now?”

Eddie beamed. “I’m in love with you too.”

Richie let out a breath of relief. “Oh, thank god, or this would’ve been really awkward.”

Eddie laughed. “You could’ve always said it was for the chucks.” Suddenly his expression fell. “It’s not for the chucks, is it?”

Richie shook head and smiled. “No, of course not. The only person I love more is—”

“Do not finish that sentence.”

Richie grinned smugly. “Hey,Eds.”

“Don’t call me that.”

“Look up.”

Eddie looked up and his jaw dropped. “Is that… a _mistletoe_?”

He nodded.

“Rich, it’s the middle of February.”

“Hey! Traditions are traditions, no matter what time of the year it is. And I need my kiss.”

“You know, you could’ve just asked to kiss me, right?”

“Didn’t want to risk it. Also chances of you giving me a lecture on the number of germs in the human mouth were pretty high.”

“I wouldn’t mind your germs,” Eddie mumbled under his breath, but Richie heard him. His grin got broader.

“Pucker up, buttercup.”

Eddie rolled his eyes, grabbed him by the collar of his ridiculous Hawaiian print shirt, and planted a soft kiss on his lips. He pulled back for a second just to see Richie’s face, but Richie chased after his lips and pressed them together again. Their mouths slotted together perfectly. Richie tasted of gum and cigarettes, and Eddie found himself loving another thing about him. He sighed into the kiss. It was better than anything he’d imagined.

After a few seconds, they broke apart to look at each other. Richie’s eyes were wide and his cheeks were bright pink. “Wow…. uh, Eds, that was… wow.”

Eddie blushed and looked down shyly. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

Richie’s shit eating grin was back. “Glad to know all Kaspbraks kiss the same way.”

Eddie huffed. “Can you not make a joke about my mother on Valentine’s Day?”

Richie shook his head. “No can do, señor. She’s my numero uno.”

“I hate you.”

“Ah, no you do don’t! You just told me you don’t.”

“Trust me, I’m already regretting that decision.”

Richie sobered up. “Really?”

Eddie smiled softly and brushed his curls away from his face. “Of course not. You’re a Trashmouth, but you’re my Trashmouth.”

Richie smiled brightly. “So uh, Eds, will you be my Valentine? For today and everyday?”

Eddie grinned and wrapped his arms around Richie’s shoulders. “Of course I will.”

They rested their foreheads together and intertwined their fingers.

“So,” Richie whispered against his lips, “do you still hate Valentine’s Day?”

Eddie smiled. “Not anymore.”

**Author's Note:**

> The song Richie and Eddie dance to is (Everything I Do) I Do It For You, by Bryan Adams. It’s overused, but it’s still one of my favourites.
> 
> Please leave kudos and comments!
> 
> hoeziertozier.tumblr.com


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